Rep. Sam Farr: House hijacked

The House is still waiting for the Senate to come up with a deal on the fiscal cliff, now down to negotiations between Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden. Obama is set to deliver remarks at 1:30 Eastern, 10:30 Pacific.

Rep. Sam Farr, D-Monterey, attributed the breakdown in the House to a lack of leadership by Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, contrasting Boehner’s failure to pass a bill addressing the fiscal cliff with then Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s passage of the $700 billion TARP bank rescue in 2008, during the last days of the George W. Bush administration.

“It’s frustrating, because we think the institution has been hijacked by a small minority who just don’t want to solve problems and want to see us in chaos,” Farr said, referring to the conservative Tea Party faction in the House.

On the bank rescue, the government ended up making money on the asset purchases, but the TARP was very unpopular at the time. Farr recalled, “Nancy’s in charge, she’s the Speaker, the Republican administration brings a bill in to bail out Wall Street, both parties balked at it. The feeling was, ‘Wall Street, that’s their responsibility.’ Nonetheless, we were convinced that we had to do something. Nancy to her credit as leader said it’s the responsibility of the institution to pass a bill. Boehner, you bring in the Republican votes and we’ll add whatever’s necessary to make the bill pass.”

The first House vote failed. The stock market dropped 777 points in one day, and on the second vote, the TARP finally passed the House.

“She did it and when the vote was counted, there were more Democrats that voted for it than Republicans,” Farr recalled. “Here we are, Boehner’s now the Speaker, and he can’t bring a bill to the floor. He won’t talk to the minority leader (Pelosi), telling her how many votes he needs, which is usually what happens. That’s been part of problem. It’s just a lack of leadership on the Republican side to live up to the responsibilities of the institution.”

Boehner’s Plan B millionaire tax failed when he could not get support from his caucus, and he has so far refused to put a bill on the floor that needs Democratic votes to pass.